Limiting temperatures and the Equation of State of Nuclear Matter

From experimental observations of limiting temperatures in heavy ion collisions we derive Tc, the critical temperature of infinite nuclear matter. The critical temperature is 16.6 ± 0.86 MeV. Theoretical model correlations between Tc, the compressibility modulus, K the effective mass, $m^{\ast }$ and the saturation density, rho_s, are exploited to derive the quantity (K/m^)**1/2rho_s^{-1/3}$. This quantity together with calculations employing Skyrme and Gogny interactions indicates a nuclear matter incompressibility in moderately excited nuclei that is in excellent agreement with the value determined from Giant Monopole Resonance data. This technique of extraction of K may prove particularly useful in investigations of very neutron rich systems using radioactive beams.